The first-year head coach will serve the suspension for Saturday night's game at Northern Iowa.

“I accept full responsibility for what happened, I know the referees have a tough job and I let my emotions get the best of me,” said McCarty in a news release. “I apologize to the referees, the MVC and the University of Evansville community and our team. This is not the way I want to represent those groups and will use this as a learning tool for myself going forward.”

Mike Kern, an assistant commissioner with the Missouri Valley Conference who handles media relations, said "there is no fine” for criticizing officials.

“Commissioner (Doug) Elgin handles those situations directly with the offending head coach after a review, of course,” wrote Kern in an e-mail. “It involves a private reprimand and possible suspension for a game. And for repeated offenses – public reprimand and possible suspension for additional games as deemed appropriate.”

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University of Evansville basketball coach Walter McCarty yells out to his team during the first half of a game against the Loyola Ramblers earlier this month.(Photo: SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS)

This was McCarty’s first offense.

NBA coaches Nick Nurse and Luke Walton have been fined $15,000 for publicly criticizing referees this season. It’s even more in the NFL, as Mike Tomlin and Todd Bowles were fined $25,000 this past fall.

In the NCAA, it seemingly varies depending on the league. South Carolina basketball coach Frank Martin was docked $25,000 by the Southeastern Conference last February. In the Pac-12, Arizona State football defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales was forced to pay $5,000 after venting to media about inconsistent calls made by the officials.

UE (9-11, 3-4 MVC) travels to play Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. Saturday.

According to Aces' sports information director Bob Pristash, they are not 100 percent certain who will fill in for McCarty.

"This all came together very fast," Pristash said. "We're just preparing for the game at this point and getting ready for UNI."

It would make the most sense that Todd Lickliter would serve as the interim head coach against the Panthers (8-12, 3-4). Lickliter has 371 games of college head coaching experience between Butler, Iowa and Marian (Indiana). Fellow assistant Matthew Graves would likely be the other option as he spent the last five seasons as the head coach at South Alabama.